It was an amazing night of MMA in Glendale, AZ. What a final show from the WEC before it ended its nine-year run and merges into UFC control. Obviously, the fight of the night was the final bout between Henderson and Pettis with "The Kick" that will go down in MMA legend. It was a privilege to be cage-side for it.
Here's the press conference from after the event featuring WEC CEO Reed Harris along with the new WEC Lightweight Champ, Anthony Pettis; UFC/WEC Bantamweight Champ Dominick Cruz; Eddie Wineland; Donald "Cowbow" Cerrone; Kamal Shalorus; and Ben Henderson.
WEC 53 Press Conference Audio
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Obviously, the talk of the night was Pettis' kick late in Round 5. It was something he said he's practice and he knew at the time he needed to do something out of the box. He called it the "Showtime Kick". Our photographer, Ryan Malone, did fantastic work but unfortunately from his vantage point at the cage the angle was wrong to get a good photo. It happened basically immediately to his right so he was too close to get a good shot. Here's what he did get.
Just because we didn't get The Picture of The Kick, doesn't mean we don't have a bunch of cool stuff to share. Take a look.
A few last notes, Ken Stone who was motionless for a long time and taken out of the cage on a backboard was reportedly doing fine and had been medically cleared. He was slammed by Eddie Wineland in an under card match. Most of the under card fights will be available on the UFC web site this weekend and the second best fight of the night -- Ivan Menjivar vs. Brad Pickett -- will on at Versus.com for free tomorrow.
Pettis vs. Henderson Gallery
Cruz vs. Jorgensen Gallery
Additional photos including Shalorus vs. Palaszweski and Cerrone vs. Horodecki.
We will have more photos of the under card fights tomorrow along with additional post-event coverage.